RE: No more cars from TVR, says Smolensky

[Davey S2]

I think you're all being too hard on him. How do you expect him to build cars and get his homework done at the same time?

[Driller]

Toadusmodus said:

Bob_Defly said:

So why on earth did he buy the brand and then shut it down FFS?

What an amazing businessman... Cockface.

Couldn't have put it better myself!

Absolutely. It smacks of sour grapes. He can't get the brand to work but he doesn't want anyone else to have a go at getting it to work either.

In short, he's broken his toys but he doesn't want anyone else to fix them play with them, he'd rather keep them broken for himself.

ETA Oh yeah and

Edited by Driller on Wednesday 11th July 08:08

[300bhp/ton]

Dave Hedgehog said:

dtrump said:

I'd imagine that a Cerbera powered by a BMW twin-turbo V8 diesel and a GT350 powered by a 100kW electric motor would cost the earth.

But a Tuscan Mk2 with an old 400hp Corvette LS3 engine...between £100,000 and £200,000?....come on now, don't be silly.

Just sounds like he's made a bit of a starting effort but got bored and can't be arsed anymore

could easily cost 200k, if there expected turnover was moderately low, they have the cost of setting up the business, tooling up, training staff, getting systems into place, dealer network, advertising, actually making the thing etc

all of which would have to be payed for by the buyers

But as a start up you wouldn't go into full scale production or have a nationwide dealer network. Some unrealistic overheads or massive profiteering must be happening to end up at that price range. Not too mention there's rather a huge difference between £100,000 and £200,000.

[Strawman]

300bhp/ton said:

Not too mention there's rather a huge difference between £100,000 and £200,000.

£100k could be with a Chevy V8 and £200k the electric version. Without knowing what the figures are based on it's a vague debate to say the least.

[marshall100]

The guys a bellend.

[Ninjaboy]

Is there really so little money left in the uk the we have to stand by and watch russian, china and indian buy up all the companies and close them or stick badges on cheap sub standard indian and chinesse products.

[Cyder]

I think some of you guys are massively underestimating how much it costs to tool up something relatively small, plus any part would then need to be tested (well, it should be!).

Tooling/testing (D+D) cost even for a relatively simple small plastic part could be in the region of £15k.

[Strawman]

Ninjaboy said:

Is there really so little money left in the uk the we have to stand by and watch russian, china and indian buy up all the companies and close them or stick badges on cheap sub standard indian and chinesse products.

I think there are few willing, who have access to the massive funding needed, to take on the risks versus rewards of large scale car manufacture. Also are Jaguar and Land Rover products better or worse under Indian ownership than they were under American ownership?

[bcadou]

pffffffffffffffffffff, very sad news.

Do you think this will make the price of used TVR jump? or wont really change anything?

[GnuBee]

Clearly there's a lot of passion on display here for the brand. Given the assertions made by many on this thread that it's easy to bung X engine into Y chassis and sell it for Z why not group together and make an approach to Mr. Smolensky.

Perhaps he's an idiot and did miss the obvious trick or perhaps there simply was not enough profit in the cars at the price points there were being sold at and the 100k to 200k range is indicative of where they need to be to actually make the business work?

[300bhp/ton]

Strawman said:

£100k could be with a Chevy V8 and £200k the electric version. Without knowing what the figures are based on it's a vague debate to say the least.

True. But there seem to be plenty of other car makers who can build and sell cars at a lower price point. And even ones that do sell at this price point (Ferrari) tend to use their own bespoke engines and complex construction.

For instance Morgan will sell you a 1.6 4/4 for £31,500. Would building a TVR really constitute a huge difference in materials of manpower?

[CHIEF]

It makes me so angry what this jumped up little ahole did to TVR, Totally ruined one of the best (and few) manufacturers the UK has ever had.

God knows what Wheeler would have thought.

TVR was never a perfect sportscar but every time I see or hear a TVR I turn my head and its an absolute crying shame what has been done to this marque.

That little runt wants putting up against a wall and shooting and i'm sorry for being harsh there.

[SrMoreno]

Ninjaboy said:

Is there really so little money left in the uk the we have to stand by and watch russian, china and indian buy up all the companies and close them or stick badges on cheap sub standard indian and chinesse products.

There is plenty of money in the UK. The problem I've found is that UK investors are disinterested in engineering or anything long-term. There are many well documented reasons for this, but the country as a whole is worse off because of it.

Never mind. I'm sure there will be another housing bubble along soon to make us all rich again.

[Robmarriott]

Everyone knocks the diesel engine idea, and I understand why, the noise isnt going to work.

BUT.... That BMW V8 engine is awesome! They make 375bhp and 620lb/ft(!) with a simple remap.

With a free flowing exhaust, decent intercooler and a less 'safe' map, you'll see 400bhp and 660lb/ft+.

I defy anyone not to enjoy that in a 1200kg car!

[Strawman]

300bhp/ton said:

True. But there seem to be plenty of other car makers who can build and sell cars at a lower price point. And even ones that do sell at this price point (Ferrari) tend to use their own bespoke engines and complex construction.

but Ferrari sell thousands of cars per year and make large profits from merchandising, also their plant/ factory must be paid for by now.

300bhp/ton said:

For instance Morgan will sell you a 1.6 4/4 for £31,500. Would building a TVR really constitute a huge difference in materials of manpower?

Morgan will also sell you an Aero8 Supersports for £126k which is more comparable to the sort of car TVR would be producing in 2012 if they were still in business.

[madbadger]

Mixed feeling on this.

A smelly TVR wouldn't have been the same anyway.

[louiebaby]

This is all very sad, but I'm not hugely surprised. Thankfully there are a great deal of enthusiasts owning the original cars, so hopefully they will still be a feature of our roads for a while yet.

The bit that really caught my attention, and stood out like a sore thumb was:

Smolensky in the article said:

"We built [...] a Cerbera powered by a BMW twin-turbo V8 diesel [...]"

Do BMW do a twin turbo, V8 diesel? What cars do they use it in?

[British Beef]

Mr Smolensky truly is an arse.

I just read Artega have filled for administration, so even the (very sound looking) German low volume sports car makers are suseptible to the economic downturn and possibly mad management / strategy.

[300bhp/ton]

Strawman said:

but Ferrari sell thousands of cars per year and make large profits from merchandising, also their plant/ factory must be paid for by now.

That's true too, although I suspect the cars must be profitable on their own.

Also how big a site would you need to start TVR production? You wouldn't jump into selling 1000's of cars in a year. You'd have to build up like any other small auto maker would.

Strawman said:

Morgan will also sell you an Aero8 Supersports for £126k which is more comparable to the sort of car TVR would be producing in 2012 if they were still in business.

But does it really cost a lot more to build such a car or is it just mass profiteering? I noticed when looking up the 4/4's price that Morgan will also sell you a Plus 8, essentially the same car but with a BMW V8 in it, but it's about £74,000. Ok I have no idea how much BMW charge for the engine, which could be a lot. But there must be greater margin and not just greater cost. The figures just don't add up otherwise.

A quick Google says an LS3 crate engine is around £4400 to buy.

[R11ysf]

Davey S2 said:

I think you're all being too hard on him. How do you expect him to build cars and get his homework done at the same time?

You do know he is 31 years old?


The problem is the old models won't cut it now so there would need to be a totally new model, which would require a lot of investment. The staff have re-located, the factory gone BUT the passion still exists. Surely starting a wholly new company, let's call it RVT, with tubular chassis, glass fibre bodies and lumpy V8's with low weight would be easier than paying for a name which is now defunct? TVR sadly has no intrinsic company value, it only has good-will value which rather like when your shares have lost 99% you'd rather let become worthless than sell on for a derisory sum.